How to Start a Lemon Tree From Seeds

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How to Start a Lemon Tree From Seeds

Overview

Lemon trees grow to be 10 to 20 feet tall and blooms are followed by the familiar light-yellow lemon fruit. Some lemons may be seedless, but most have seeds which can be planted to grow a new lemon tree. Once you have decided on a location to grow a lemon tree, decide on the variety you want to grow. Varieties include Eureka, Genoa, Lisbon, Meyer, Perrine, Rosenberger and sweet lemon. You can purchase seeds online or at a garden store, and you can also use the seeds directly from the lemon that comes from the type of tree you want to grow.

Step 1

Plant the seeds as soon as you have taken them out of the lemon fruit. Place them in a plastic bag and store them in your refrigerator if you can't plant right away. Before planting, wash the seeds thoroughly to remove any excess sugar that is stuck to them.

Step 2

Prepare potting soil into a medium-sized pot. Make sure the soil is pasteurized by heat before planting. You can do this yourself by heating the soil in your oven at 160 degrees F for 30 minutes or more.

Step 3

Make a hole in that pot that is at least 1/2-inch deep, and place the seed into the hole. Make sure soil is slightly moist. Cover the seed with the soil, and then cover the top of the pot with plastic wrap to stop evaporation.

Step 4

Add water as soon as the soil becomes dry, but don't saturate the soil. Keep the pot in a warm area, such as the top of a refrigerator, until it has germinated. Once you see the seedling begin to spread out, move the plant into sunlight and remove the plastic.

Step 5

Plant the seedling outside in the area where you want the lemon tree to fully grow. Make sure the tree gets water regularly and gets enough sunlight. It will take many years for the tree to grow, but after 15 years, you should have many lemons each year.

Things You'll Need

Potting soil

Plastic bag

Small shovel

References

Kathyrmiller.com: Meyer Lemon Tree

University of New Mexico: Lemon Tree from Seed

Purdue University: Lemon

Keywords:
plant lemon tree seeds, start lemon tree, fruit seeds

About this Author

Greg Lindberg is a graduate of Purdue University with a Bachelor of Liberal Arts degree in creative writing. His professional writing experience includes three years of technical writing for an agriculture IT department and a major pharmaceutical company, as well as four years as staff writer for a music and film webzine.